Comments on: Pens beat Caps 2-0: Olli Maatta Means No Worries For the Rest of Your Dayshttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/
We're the relentlessly fun Washington Capitals blog hopelessly devoted to Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov, and Evgeny Kuznetsov!Sun, 02 Aug 2015 22:46:00 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3By: Eric Schulzhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60732
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 06:17:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60732Oh, I definitely have no problem adding a veteran to back up Holtby, I just don’t think there’s any chance of it happening.
As far as Murray, I don’t think it’s the age, it’s just I think he’s done. Jeff Schultz is younger than him, but he was done 4 years ago…
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Thu, 13 Mar 2014 05:25:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60727What about Oates? I think he should be ahead of Olie on the chopping block. Behind CalleJo though.
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Thu, 13 Mar 2014 05:20:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60726Dan Snyder has called upon George Allen to defend the Redskins nickname. You know, that politician from Virginia who had his political career derailed by using a RACIAL SLUR ON CAMERA? Seriously, the more Snyder tries to defend the name, the more I think it needs to be changed. Sorry, it’s irrelevant, but I just had to rant about that.
]]>By: Owen Johnsonhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60725
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 05:16:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60725I’m actually even suprised their percentages are that high, considering we’ve been losing faceoffs 2:1 recently.
And let me say this. I love Eric Fehr. I think he’s a solid winger. Let me repeat: he is a solid WINGER!
]]>By: Barretthttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60722
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 03:06:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60722There were numerous guys I looked at to pair with Mike Green and Dimitry Orlov. Mark Fayne (NJD), Nikita Nikitin (CBJ), Mark Fraser (EDM), Anton Belov, (EDM), Matt Greene (LAK) and Andy MacDonald (PHI). I disagree about Murray being too old at age 34 when Willie Mitchell is going to be 37 years old. I honestly wouldn’t mind having both of them. I’m a huge fan of both guys. Murray for his physical presence and Mitchell has that savvy veteran leadership this team needs. That adds two veterans to a pretty young defensive group which Mike Green is currently the elder statesman of at age 28.

I’m not a big fan of Jack Hillen, only because he’s undersized and is buried behind all the puck-moving d-men we have, but I would keep him for depth and because he’s on an expiring contract, which could be used to trade at the deadline. I love Oleksy and think him with Orlov could be a good 3rd pair. Let him rotate in to give the older guys nights off.

The one position the Capitals need to improve on is down the middle. They are very weak in the face off circle. I like MoJo’s speed and puck handling, but he doesn’t shoot and isn’t good on faceoffs. That makes him expendable and I shipped him off to Anaheim who will have a shortage of centers (they also currently employ Dave Steckel). One guy I’d like to get my hands on is Steve Ott, former Sabre, now with the Blues. I view him as a perfect 3rd line center. He can kill penalties, take face-offs, play a scoring role and line up at all three forward positions.

I’m stuck with what to do with Fehr, I feel like he’s the odd man out. I wouldn’t be opposed to moving him in the offseason (sent him off to Nashville) to make cap room for another 3rd/4th line center, say Manny Malhotra? Another guy that is solid defensively
and can win the face off battles. It might be wishful thinking to assume the Ward-Chimera duo carries into next year. The system seems loaded with talented wingers, as you listed, and could easily be replenished with AHL call-ups.

I think we have the goalie situation all wrong, I went for a veteran over two young guys in Holtby and Grubauer. Remember, Holtby has around 120 games of NHL experience. When the Capitals had good years there was usually a veteran goalie (Kolzig, Huet, Theodore, Vokoun). I originally had Brian Elliot, but I think maybe Evgeni Nabokov could be a good veteran signing.

]]>By: Eric Schulzhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60716
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 01:57:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60716Yeah, I’m on there a lot too; I really don’t think we are that far away. I mean, think about if we are able to keep Penner (at this point, I don’t think salary is an issue, the question would be, do we want to keep him, and is he expecting a vastly different – higher – contract? So far, I’ve liked what I’ve seen – small sample size, but that’s all we have so far – and on the second, I’d doubt it. Say $2.5 mil for 3 years, to be conservative. I’d like 2, but I’d be willing to go 3, honestly, although I’d hope $2-$2.3 mil) and, more importantly, Grabovski (money is NOT an issue here, and all accounts seem to be that we want him back, and he doesn’t want out; say, $4.5 mil for 3 years? I hope that’s a tad conservative, but I don’t know… I mean, you could easily argue he deserves more, if you look at Bozak but… I mean, Clarkson.) So, our top-6 is:
Penner – Backstrom – Ovechkin
Kuznetsov – Grabovski – ?
To me, that’s a legit contender there, at least so far. I think Brouwer is a legit 2nd line winger, although this year he has been more of a 3rd; recently, however, he’s turned it up, and looking at last year, that’s not exactly an aberration. I don’t expect him to score like he did last year, and net 30+ goals and 55+ points, but he should approach 25-25–50 at least, and he looks, to me, like a good fit with the more skilled Kuznetsov and Grabovski.
Now, we have some nice pieces for the bottom-6 too. I like:
Laich – Johansson – Wilson
as a very nice 3rd. If Laich regains form – he has played much better recently – he’s a legit 3rd liner on a contender, and Wilson is a great fit for any 3rd line. I’m not as down on Johansson as most seem to be. I think he’s got some skill, and he’s pretty young and cheap. I think that would be a nice trio; if we DID trade him, we should acquire proven talent by finding a rebuilding team that values him as a young, cheap asset moving forward… maybe as part of a piece to acquire Frans Nielsen from the Isles or something (defense is more important, but Nielsen is a good defensive forward, and we need those almost as much as a physical, top-4 D-man. Also, off the top of my head, I don’t see any really nice fit on D from any rebuilding team. We couldn’t take a flyer Myers, he’s too expensive; we wouldn’t want Justin Schultz from the Oilers, he’s another puck mover – and he’s too good/young/cheap for them to be willing to trade him unless it’s for Backstrom or something, but that aside, it’s still not a great move for us; we wouldn’t want Giordano from the Flames, another puck mover, etc).
4th line:
Chimera – Fehr – Ward
That’s been a really good line for us this season, and after our (legit) top-6, you could argue this as our 3rd line, but Chimera will be older, Ward will regress, and I just think there’s more talent on the 3rd as I have it (Wilson and Johansson should improve with continued maturity – especially Wilson – and Laich, hopefully, continues to heal). Beagle is a healthy scratch, and we have a few nice guys in the AHL ready to be called up if injuries hit: Latta, of course, and I like Ryan Stoa as a more veteran guy, Wellman impressed in a brief stint… not too much else beyond that, but we also have some nice prospects in Burakovsky, Barber, Stephenson, Schmidt, Bowey, Grubauer, and Sanford.
In goal, you have to be comfortable with Holtby backed up by Grubauer. Holtby has been very impressive in the playoffs, and Grubauer flashed in his relatively brief NHL stint this year. The small sample size with Grubauer isn’t great if Holtby goes down, but few teams could sustain a long-term injury to their starting goalie, so I don’t expect better. We just need to shore up our defense. Alzner – Carlson is, in my opinion, a legit top pairing. The way they’ve played this season, they haven’t been as rock-solid as they normally are, but I expect improvement next year; they aren’t a very high-end top pair, but they wouldn’t hold back a contender. Green as the puck-mover on your 2nd pairing works just fine. On the 3rd, we have a puck-mover, whether it’s Orlov, Schmidt, Hillen, or Oleksy. I’d lean towards playing Orlov, letting Schmidt continue to develop in the AHL, and Hillen and/or Oleksy can be the healthy scratches, and we can get them some games here or there. The problem is, the people-mover on the bottom two pairings; we just don’t have one, much less two. If we wanted to try Orlov with Oleksy, with Hillen scratched, I’d be okay with that, but I’d like to see us go after two DFD in free agency. I disagree with you about Douglas Murray, I think he’s too old, and with Mike Green’s… erratic… play, we can’t gamble on Murray too. I love Willie Mitchell and Matt Greene. Would really love to grab one, if not both.. I’d imagine both would be just about impossible, cap-wise… but I’m not too sure until we know what the cap will be next year. Either one to pair with Green *ought* to be a pairing we can move forward with… on the 3rd, I’d go after a cheaper (obviously) DFD; somebody older might work here, so Derek Morris, Douglas Murray could fit here better than with Green, I think… Matt Hunwick? I really liked Scott Hannan in his prime, didn’t like that we let him go… the problem here is, I’ve been able to watch so few non-Capitals games recently, that I really don’t know which of these guys I’d want to target. But let’s just say that Greene is the guy I think he is, and Hannan wants to come back, and is still a legit NHLer:
Penner – Backstrom – Ovechkin
Kuznetsov – Grabovski – Brouwer
Laich – Johansson – Wilson
Chimera – Fehr – Ward
Alzner – Carlson
Greene – Green
Orlov – Hannan
Holtby
Grubauer
healthy scratches: Beagle, Oleksy, Hillen
I feel like that team is a contender… we just need Green and Laich to be relatively healthy (obviously we need health from key guys, but no more than any contender, with the exception of those two). And TWO more factors: ONE, we need Johansson to get more consistent. I feel like we could put him on that 3rd line and ask those guys to play a simple game, and he could be though. I think that maybe he tries to do too much playing with Backstrom and Ovechkin, and has been getting inside his own head too much lately. TWO… as much as I love Fehr, we need a better 4th line center (we suck at faceoffs; that’s where I’d address it, although if we could move, like, Johansson, a 1st, and Carrick to the Isles for Frans Nielsen to be our 3rd liner, that’d be fucking great too; I’d be willing even to throw in Fehr AND Ward to dump salary if we needed to, and then we can roll with a bottom-6 of:
Laich – Nielsen – Wilson
Chimera – Latta – Brown). I miss Dave Steckel; he’d be a perfect 4th line C. If we could throw Galiev or something at whoever has him to reacquire him, I’d do it in a heartbeat (assuming little-to-no dropoff, which I cannot attest to, obviously, as I have no idea what team he’s currently on). If not, there are a few centers out there that *might* fit the bill: Michal Handzus, Dominic Moore, Colin Fraser, Vernon Fiddler, Marcel Goc? Zenon Konopka is a beast on faceoffs… but I’m not sure he’d be worth it.
]]>By: Bugs Firehttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60714
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:13:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60714Well we all agree that Caps stink this year (for whatever reason). Yet despite all of this, Pens could have lost 3 of 4 meetings (they only truly dominated the first game). They are good, but they are not great.
]]>By: Bugs Firehttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60712
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:03:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60712Yes, you are not the only one. And it is no longer hope, it’s reality. Because unlike last year when Caps emerged victorious from the disappointment of the Pens game they had to have on the double minor penalty, this year excellent effort games they post occasionally (Sharks, Blues, two of four Pens meetings, etc) are followed by disasters. They have been so bad playing against bottom half of the league. They had once again the advantage of playing in a weak division. I don’t care if they lose the games they have to lose to stronger opponents. What I can’t stand is all the points wasted in Buffalo, Long Island, Raleigh, Calgary, Toronto and Philadelphia. This season positively sucks.

But let’s say they make the playoffs. So what? Does anyone here is looking forward to reinvigorating experience of watching them fall to Pens in the first round? Say Columbus and Philly implode and Caps make it to the third division spot. Then what? How will that first round vs Rangers go? Wait, we already know. Am I looking forward to Connor Carrick and yes, Mike Green creating opportunities for 100+ year old StLouis? No, not really.

So as much as I want them to make playoffs, I would welcome an early release from this pain. The only reason I’d like to see them make playoffs is to test whether GMGM and HC will have the audacity to claim in post-season interview that once again, mighty Caps were undone by bad calls and weird bounces.

I do like Adam Oates. But assuming that he does not know his shit is not working is insulting to his hockey intelligence. My only question is why is he not changing his ways? Is that part of Machiavellian plan to rid us all of GMGM? Nothing else makes sense. Scratching Erat in favour of Volpatti is an act of sabotage. What was Erskine doing there all this time? How come a talented 19-old forward is forced into enforcer role and yet another 19 year old blueliner is given an assignment he cannot possibly succeed at? Why this brilliant HOF playmaker cannot see that Marcus Johanssen has done nothing all season long to earn first line spot? That Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer shall never ever be on the same line? That Grabovski and Fehr are turning Ovie into a playmaker because, you know, they actually don’t mind scoring a goal?

Done ranting for now. Looking forward to remainder of the season, mercifully there is not much left. Maybe they can scrape a win or two along the way. What a wasted season.

]]>By: Bugs Firehttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60709
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 23:24:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60709Speaking of bounces – have you seen last year Pens-Bruins series?

Except for one Cup (and even that could have flown away on a red wing), Pens of Crosby years are chokers. I’ll give them first round this year, no matter who emerges from Detroit/Tampa/Columbus/Washington 20 game dash. If they hit Philly, they are done, and it will be ugly. Rangers will be even worse, because they have the personnel to capitalize on Pens major weakness – lack of solid defence. And even if by some miracle they get to conference finals, they will be greeted there by broad smiles of Bay State boys. Only this time they have Iginla.

]]>By: Bugs Firehttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2014/03/11/pens-beat-caps-2-0-olli-maatta-means-no-worries-for-the-rest-of-your-days/#comment-60708
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 23:20:00 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=63628#comment-60708Indeed. All the “brilliant” trades of this year deadline are fixing mess GM created. At the end of the season Penner, Halak and Grabo will walk and Caps will have Ovie+20 random and often overpriced guys (Penner/Halak are random too, as they fix imaginary problems). There is no system in the madness GMGM perpetrated on this hockey club.
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